1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to an apparatus and method enhancing muscular movement, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method enhancing muscular movement using an electroactive polymer (EAP).
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, haptic feedback techniques are broadly classified into force feedback techniques and tactile feedback techniques. Force feedback techniques are techniques that enable a user to feel forces and a sense of movement using a mechanical interface. Force feedback devices are commonplace. Examples of force feedback devices include feedback force joysticks that apply repulsive forces to a game gun when the user shoots the gun while playing a game, and feedback force steering wheels to which virtual impulses are applied when a car crash occurs. The field of medicine is one of the fields of science in which tactile feedback has been most widely used. With tactile feedback, a doctor can conduct an operation on a virtual patient by referencing a 3D image that renders a three-dimensional anatomical structure, displayed in real time on a computer screen. Tactile feedback can be accomplished by stimulating mechanoreceptors of a user with a haptic device, or an array of small pins that is driven by compressed air or electricity, and can thus give a user the sensation that the user is actually touching skin.
Conventional apparatuses for encouraging muscular movement of a user are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,704 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. hei 10-280209.
In detail, U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,704 discloses a muscle stimulation system for patients with a paralyzed hand, particularly, a hand controller system that senses movement of the shoulder of a patient, having a paralyzed hand, with the aid of a sensor, provides the result of the sensing to a controller, and stimulates the patient's muscle under the control of the controller so that the patient can grab an object with the paralyzed hand. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. hei 10-280209 discloses medical equipment for protection of the lower limbs. The medical equipment includes a power accumulation unit that reinforces the femoral muscle of a user. The medical equipment can prevent injury by assisting muscular contraction and encouraging muscle.
However, the aforementioned muscular movement encouraging apparatuses belong to a type of medical auxiliary equipment that can be worn by a user, and that can encourage muscular movement of the user. In order to use the aforementioned muscular movement encouraging apparatuses, a user must wear them with clothes on, and may accordingly feel heaviness on part of his/her body due to the weight of the necessary heavy components in each of the apparatuses.